


Revelations From an Unexpected Source

by serenbach



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Love Confessions, Love Potion/Spell, M/M, hinted prompto/cindy, hinted prompto/gladio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-03 21:06:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10258286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenbach/pseuds/serenbach
Summary: After a dying daemon covers them in a weird goo, Gladio and Prompto start acting strangely. Really strangely. Like they suddenly have a crush on Noct strangely.What's even stranger though, is that Ignis doesn't seem to be affected at all.Based onthistumblr post "everyone is affected by some sort of love spell and falls in love with person A but person B’s behavior curiously doesn’t change at all.”





	1. Chapter 1

Noct was safely out of range, at the highest point of his leap with his spear, when the daemon exploded, pierced by sword, daggers and bullets.

But while he was out of the splash-zone, the others were not so lucky, and by the time he landed he could see that they had been liberally coated in some sort of disgusting purple-red goo.

Noct would have laughed, if the three of them hadn’t collapsed with sudden, terrifying abruptness. He let his weapon vanish and he sprinted towards them, heart pounding. It was night-time and they were in the middle of nowhere, far from any havens, a long way from the car, nowhere near any help.

If they were hurt, if they were badly hurt, there was nothing he could do for them.

He reached Ignis first and dropped to his knees, wiping the gunk from his nose and mouth with one hand, and pressing a phial of phoenix down into Ignis’ hand with the other, forcing his fingers to close around the glass and break it.

For a horrible second, nothing happened. Then Ignis spluttered and sat up, and Noct almost melted with relief. “Noctis?” he mumbled, confused, but Noct had already scrambled over to Prompto to repeat the process, and by the time Prompto had revived enough to complain, he was healing Gladio.

None of them were particularly happy to find themselves on the ground and covered in daemon goo, but they were all awake and alive and that was all Noct cared about, and he listened to their complaining with nothing but shaky relief. 

“What kind of daemon was that?” Gladio grumbled, spitting the taste from his mouth.

“Hopefully one we’ll never meet again,” Ignis said, cleaning his glasses on the driest part of his shirt.

“Yeah,” Prompto agreed. “There’s _slime_ in my hair!”

Fortunately, the trek back to the car was uneventful, though the grumbling about being sticky and gross died out into an exhausted silence. Noct intercepted Ignis as he headed towards the driver’s seat.

“It’s okay, I’ll drive,” he said, and it was testament to how terrible Ignis must be feeling because he didn’t disagree, or even attempt to discourage the journey.

The three of them were asleep long before Noct pulled into the rest stop, and Noct couldn’t stop his hands from shaking against the steering wheel for a few seconds before he woke them up.

It could have been so much worse.

\---

In hindsight, the bickering in the trailer should have tipped him off that something strange was happening, but it wasn’t an unusual argument, and it had been a long day, and Noct just shrugged it off.

They had all showered (and Noct had magnanimously stayed out of the “who gets the first shower” dispute), changed into moderately cleaner clothes and had something to eat in the diner. It was only when they got back to the trailer that the arguing began because both Prompto and Gladio were absolutely determined that they would be sharing a bed with Noct.

It was a frequent debate when they were sharing close quarters. Gladio snored. Prompto twisted and kicked. Ignis started awake at the slightest nose and generally woke his bedmate too, whereas (unless he was having a nightmare) Noct curled up into a ball and didn’t move for the whole night, making him generally the preferred choice to share with. 

But Prompto and Gladio weren’t usually so _adamant_ about sharing one of the crappy double beds in a tiny trailer with him and it got to the point where it almost became a real argument until Ignis, pinching his nose, sighed and said, “Who do you want to share with, Noct?”

“I’ll share with you, since you’re not being _weird,_ ” Noct replied, giving them both the stink-eye until Gladio snorted and looked away and Prompto looked down, hunching in on himself a bit. Once the subject was dropped, however, everything seemed to go back to normal. By the time they’d played a few rounds of King’s Knight and actually got ready for bed, Noct had entirely forgotten the whole thing.

He woke in the night to Ignis’ gentle touch on his shoulder. “Apologies,” he whispered, “but you were having a nightmare.”

He rolled over to face Ignis, although he could see very little in the darkness with the blinds to the trailer drawn shut. “Ngh,” he managed, and then tried again. “Sorry to wake you.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ignis murmured, drawing his hand back.

His subconscious had changed the memory of his friends covered with weird daemon gunk into them being covered with blood, and from there his dreams had shifted to Insomnia and his dad. Little wonder he had woken Ignis up.  

“Nah,” he answered aloud. “It’s stupid.” He rubbed his hand over his eyes, trying to get the images out of his mind.

“It’s not stupid, Noct,” Ignis replied, but didn’t push for details, and Noct was grateful for that.

He let the sounds of the trailer settle him down; the rain outside, Gladio’s snoring (quieter than usual, thankfully), the creaking of the mattress as Prompto shifted restlessly, Ignis pulling the blanket up higher and getting comfortable again, and he let out a small sigh as his nightmare faded out of his mind and the trailer started to feel cosy and safe again.

“Hey Ignis,” he said, and he made a sleepy, interrogative noise in response. “Do you remember the star blanket?”

Ignis laughed suddenly, turning to face him again. “Of course I do.”

After the attack and his injury, but before he went to Tenebrae, Noct had suffered from terrible nightmares from a combination of pain, trauma and the medication that the doctors gave him. He’d barely slept, kept awake by misery and agony, until Ignis had appeared one night, dragging a heavy blanket embroidered with stars behind him and carefully climbed into bed next to him, and told Noct to pretend that they were camping.  

It had helped to calm him, and he’d slept the night through for the first time since the attack and he’d woken up to see his dad looking at them with an expression of both relief and helpless amusement. The “blanket” had turned out to be some sort of priceless tapestry, handmade by his one of his ancestors. And Noct had drooled on it.

“You must have known how valuable it was,” Noct whispered to Ignis, smiling in the dark at the memory.

“I did, yes,” Ignis replied, and Noct could hear his own smile from his voice. “But I rather thought it was worth the risk of being sent to the dungeons for desecrating a cultural artefact.”

“As if my dad would have ever done that to you,” Noct said, snorting quietly. His dad had been nothing but grateful for the peaceful night’s sleep, and star patterned blankets had been a part of his bedroom’s décor for several years afterwards.

“That’s good to know,” Ignis said, his voice very soft. “What made you think of the blanket, anyway?”

“I dunno,” Noct said, shifting to lie on his back again. He sort of wished that he could curl up closer to Ignis, but he was used to ignoring that urge. “I guess because you rescued me from nightmares tonight, too. Uh, thanks for that, by the way.”

“Of course,” Ignis replied, his voice far too serious for the conversation they were having. “Always.”

Somehow that assurance made it easy for him to slip back into sleep.

\---     

The weirdness continued in the morning, although in his usual morning daze, Noct didn’t realise it until later. He sat picking at the breakfast that Ignis had kept warm for him, which in itself was not unusual, as he slowly came back to full alertness.

It _was_ strange that Gladio was happy to sit with him and let him wake up slowly with no impatient commentary, and that Prompto kept refilling his juice for him rather than poking around in the shop, but he was just too groggy to register it. As the day wore on though, he couldn’t help but notice that Gladio and Prompto were still acting strangely.

Gladio was his shield, and had always protected him, but he had never _coddled_ him before. But today he could barely land a hit on any of the monsters that attacked him before Gladio was there, blocking the blow with his shield. If he wasn’t in time he acted as if the mild blows and scratches that Noct had received were life-threatening, and when he tugged Noct to his feet if he’d been knocked down, he was much gentler and less matter-of-fact than usual, his touch almost _lingering._  

It started to grate on him long before they reached the haven. When Gladio didn’t complain that Noct wanted to stop while it was still daylight, and started to obligingly set up camp, Noct threw up his hands and went to sit with Prompto.

On reflection, that had been a bad move too. While Prompto hadn’t acted any differently in battle, he’d stuck closer than usual otherwise, chatting about nothing, but in an awkward, jittery way, like he hadn’t been around him since the first time they met all those years ago. When he looked through the pictures that Prompto had taken that day, something else weird jumped out of him. “Hey, these are all of me,” Noct said, and Prompto actually _blushed._

“Well, uh, you’re pretty to look at!” Prompto said defensively.

“You’re not wrong,” Gladio said, coming over and plucking the camera out of his hands to look through the photos.

“And I’m going to go and try and catch some fish now,” Noct said, making his escape while they were distracted, feeling deeply unsettled.

It was almost as if they had suddenly developed a crush on him, but that was just too bizarre to think about. He’d seen Prompto have crushes on their classmates, and he had a front row seat for his painfully obvious crush on Cindy, and his only slightly less painfully obvious one on Gladio. If Prompto had fancied him for all this time, he wouldn’t have been able to hide it. And all of Gladio’s partners (that he’d met anyway) had been tall and built – he was certain that he wasn’t his type, and if there was an exception in their little group the way he sometimes thought there was, Noct was equally certain that it wasn’t him.

But he was probably reading too much into it. There was absolutely no way that they fancied him. They would probably just laugh at his ego if he tried to bring it up with them.

His self-assurances lasted for all of five minutes before they trailed after him to the fishing spot and watched him fish raptly until it got dark, with no complaints or restlessness, and outrageously complimented the two tiny fish that he managed to catch.

Something weird was definitely going on.

\---  

He spent that evening pretending to nap with his chocobo until Ignis gently shook him awake. Entering the tent just restarted the previous evening’s debate of who would be sleeping next to him until, frazzled, Noct fled the tent and went to sit next to Ignis, who was finishing a can of Ebony next to the fire.

“Problems, Noct?” he asked dryly, only frowning a little when Noct stole the can out of his hand and took a fortifying gulp of coffee.

“This is strange, right?” he asked plaintively, as the raised voices in the tent got louder. “I’m not imaging this, am I?”

“No, you’re not,” Ignis replied thoughtfully, taking his coffee back, and Noct was almost overcome with relief that Ignis had noticed it too. “I’ve been trying to think of what could have caused this.”

“Maybe they ate something weird?” Noct suggested, and Ignis gave him a _look_.

“Ignoring that slight to my cooking,” Ignis said, “we’ve all eaten the same thing the last few days.”

Noct frowned down at his hands. “Maybe they got stung by something?” he said, and Ignis nodded.

“It’s possible,” he agreed. “But I was thinking of that daemon we fought yesterday.”

Noct pulled a face, thinking of the disgusting goo, and then he nodded. “Yeah, it could be. They didn’t start acting weird until after that. Maybe that slime was some sort of poison or something.”

“Or it could cause a form of confusion, or perhaps cause some sort of amplification to your pheromones – you did touch us all when you healed us.” Ignis pointed out. “Or you could just be that irresistible.”

“Very funny,” Noct grumbled, and Ignis chuckled. “Do you think a remedy would fix it?”

“It’s worth a try,” Ignis said, and Noct stood and braced himself.

“Okay, wish me luck,” he announced, and poked his head back into the tent. “Hey, get out here, guys,” he called, and heard them scramble to leave the tent.

“What do you need,” Gladio asked, looking concerned. “Are you alright?”

“I need you to take a remedy,” Noct told him, and Gladio frowned.

“I don’t need one,” he protested, but didn’t stop Noct when he placed one in his hand.

“Please?” he asked again. “For me?” He was not above using this crush for Gladio’s own good, if need be.

Gladio straightened up to his full height. “I’d do anything for you,” he announced intensely and crushed the remedy in his hand. For a second nothing happened, and then a look of horror flooded his features, and Noct laughed aloud, too relieved to be offended by that.

He coaxed Prompto into taking a remedy, and when it kicked in he covered his face with his hands, embarrassed.

After some good natured ribbing, Gladio looked over at Ignis. “Do you need a remedy too, Iggy?” he asked, and Ignis shook his head.

“It doesn’t seem to have affected me,” he replied, a slightly confused look on his face.

“Lucky you,” Gladio snorted, and Noct jabbed him in the side.

“I wonder why not?” Prompto asked. “Why would it make me and Gladio fall in love with Noct but have no effect on you?”

Noct looked over at Ignis again, puzzled as well. Ignis had been just as coated in the gross gunk as the others, why wouldn’t it have made him act like he was in love with him too?

He saw the look of realisation flash across Ignis’ face, something sad and resigned, before he turned away with a stiff “excuse me” and headed down towards the fishing spot, alone.

Noct stared after him, his heart hammering. If Ignis’ behaviour towards him hadn’t changed at all, perhaps it was because there was nothing to change.

After all, Ignis wouldn’t suddenly start acting like he was in love with him, if he was _already_ in love with him. 


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone stared after Ignis as he stood on the pier with his arms folded, no doubt frowning at the water.

“What’s with him?” Prompto asked in concern, and Gladio gave Noct a pointed, almost angry look. Noct didn’t know if he’d come to a similar conclusion, or if he thought he’d upset Ignis somehow, but that was definitely a _fix it now_ expression.    

“I’ll just, uh,” Noct said, and his gaze fell on Ignis’ abandoned can of Ebony, “take Iggy his drink.”

Gladio snorted. “Yeah, right.”

Noct picked up the mostly empty can and followed him down to the fishing spot. If nothing else, it was outside the haven, if only slightly, and he didn’t want Ignis out there on his own, especially not after the other night.

“Hey,” he said as he came up behind Ignis, not wanting to startle him when he was so deep in thought.

Ignis turned to look at him, his expression smoothing out from troubled to something neutral. “Noctis.”

“I bought you your drink,” he said lamely, holding it out. His heart was beating absurdly fast. He was nervous and it was ridiculous. This was _Ignis_. Who he’d had his own secret crush on for as long as he could remember, but still.

Ignis took the can and shook it sceptically. The last drops rattled around in the bottom of the can. “Thank you, Noct,” he said dryly.   

“It’s not like you to waste Ebony, Iggy,” Noct teased, and Ignis smiled back at him for a moment before his smile faded.

“I would prefer not to discuss it, Noct,” Ignis said stiffly, going back to staring out at the water.

“Oh… alright,” Noct replied, a little stung but trying not to show it. “Discuss what?” He let out an unconvincing chuckle, and Ignis sighed.

“I know that you’ve worked out why the demon didn’t affect me the way it did the others,” he said, still not looking at him. “I promise you it will not impede me as I carry out my duties.”

“I never thought it would,” Noct replied, and though he shouldn’t have been shocked that Ignis’ thoughts had gone in that direction, he could still hear the surprise in his tone of voice.

“We can put it behind us now,” Ignis said firmly, like he was trying to convince himself.

“If you want to,” Noct agreed, although he couldn’t deny that he was a little hurt, despite having gone into this conversation with no expectations, despite having had no hopes at all until ten minutes ago.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Ignis said, quietly, almost to himself, and for the first time Noct could hear the aching regret in his voice, and stepped closer 

“Of _course_ it matters, Iggy,” Noct told him earnestly. “ _You_ matter.”

Ignis’ mouth pulled up at the side, but his eyes were still sad. “Thank you, but be that as it may, you are still going to marry Lady Lunafreya when this is all over, and that is as it should be.” He looked down at the can of Ebony in his hand. He’d squeezed it out of shape, unnoticed, at some point in the conversation. “You love her, after all.”

“I do,” Noct agreed, and took a deep breath. If he didn’t say it now, he never would. “But not the way I love you.”

Ignis turned his startled gaze to Noct’s face, and frowned, reaching out and pressing his bare thumb to his forehead. “I didn’t see any of the daemon’s essence on you, but…”

Noct rolled his eyes and swatted Ignis’ hand away. “I didn’t get any of that gross goo on me.”

Ignis just stared at him, hand still hovering in mid-air, his eyes wide and vulnerable.

Noct shrugged, rubbing his neck and looking down, awkward. “If I couldn’t be as lucky as my dad and marry my childhood sweetheart, I was at least lucky enough to be engaged to one of my best friends.”

“Your childhood…” Ignis trailed off, still staring. Noct had never seen him speechless before. In other circumstances he would be laughing and getting Prompto to take pictures of his expression, but now he just felt unnerved and exposed.

“I told my dad I wanted to marry you when we grew up, once,” Noct said with a small laugh. “He told me I would be a lucky man. And Luna used to tease me about my obvious crush on you, even though she’d never met you, because I wrote about you to her so often.”

Ignis still didn’t reply, his eyes massive behind his glasses, and Noct suddenly wished he’d said nothing, that he’d let it go when Ignis had given him the chance.

“But yeah, you’re right, it doesn’t matter. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future and it doesn’t change anything.” He looked away, folded his arms defensively and bitterly cursed that stupid daemon in his mind for ruining the relationship he relied on so much. “I just thought you should know…”

He wasn’t looking at Ignis, so he just saw the blur of movement in the corner of his eyes as Ignis stepped closer, cupped his face in his gloved hands and pressed a kiss to his lips.

It was awkward, Ignis had missed most of his mouth as Noct moved his head at the last moment, it barely lasted a second, and it was perfect. Noct smiled at him, probably looking as dazed as he felt, and Ignis made a low noise in his throat and leaned forward to kiss him again, properly this time.

“I still don’t know what’s going to happen when we beat the Empire,” Noct pointed out, his voice low and husky, still gripping on tightly to Ignis’ shoulders like he’d never let him go.

“We’ll figure it out together,” Ignis promised, brushing his cheek with his hand. “I love you, too, Noct.”

Noct would have kissed him again then, but they were interrupted by an obnoxious wolf-whistle from the camp.

“We should get back,” Ignis sighed, and Noct pulled a face even as he reached for Ignis’ hand.

They headed back to camp, returning briefly to retrieve the abandoned Ebony can when Ignis started making a fuss about littering (even though Ignis had been the one to drop it), and they were greeted by Gladio and Prompto wearing expressions somewhere between gleeful and concerned.

“So you two…” Prompto asked, looking between them uncertainly.

“Are you _sure_ you don’t need a remedy, Iggy?” Gladio asked with a smirk.

“I’m quite well, thank you for asking,” Ignis replied primly, but he couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

“Hey, you said I was pretty!” Noct exclaimed, pointing at Prompto. “And you agreed,” he added, pointing at Gladio, “so… shut up!”

“I was high on daemon juice, you can’t hold that against me!” Prompto objected.

“That’s gross,” Gladio told him.

Noct listened to them bickering with a smile, Ignis still holding his hand. Everything was back to normal, except for being _better_ than normal.

“You know,” Ignis said quietly, leaning closer to him. “Suddenly I feel rather grateful to that daemon.”

“Yeah,” Noct agreed, squeezing his hand. “Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your comments and kudos! Much appreciated.


End file.
